Red Light Camera Tax To Be Reigned In

By on February 27, 2020   /   IL, Illinois, jim tobin, Latest, Referenda  
Red Light Camera

A bi-partisan bill recently passed the Illinois House of Representatives that would ban red light cameras in non-Home Rule municipalities. The bill passed 84-4 on Wednesday and will now move to the Illinois Senate.

“Banning unreliable red-light cameras in non-Home Rule municipalities is a win for taxpayers, but Springfield can do better,” said Matthew Schultz, Executive Director of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). “The primary function of red-light cameras is to steal money from taxpayers with an indirect tax. If the bill becomes law, bureaucrats in non-Home Rule municipalities will be barred from imposing this tax.

“In fact,” added Schultz, “This provides a stronger reason for taxpayers to reject Home Rule in the March 17 election.”

“As TUA founder and President Jim Tobin has always said, Home Rule means home ruin. With Home Rule, local bureaucrats can run wild with tax increases.  Home Rule means bureaucrats are no longer  limited on how high property taxes can be increased; it robs taxpayers of the right to directly vote on tax increases; it puts a municipality on the path of creating a municipal income tax, and may be the only way a local government can introduce red light cameras.”

“Taxpayers need to reject Home Rule referenda and the upcoming state income tax increase in the election on November 3. Local and state governments need to learn to live within their means like taxpayers. The only way for taxpayers to get that message across is to defeat these huge tax increase measures whenever they are on the ballot.”

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Glenview Taxpayers Mobilize Against $119,000,000 Property Tax Increase

By on February 26, 2020   /   IL, Illinois, jim tobin, Latest  
glenview
glenview

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Click HERE to view Glenview vote no flyer.

Taxpayers in Glenview, IL, are mobilizing to defeat a massive property tax increase benefitting Glenview School District 34. Glenview SD34 demands from Glenview taxpayers a $119 million property tax increase which is on their March 17 ballot.

The $119 million does not include interest that is also paid with property taxes.

“Bond issues always result in property tax increases,” said Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayers United of America (TUA). “I have fought property tax increases for over 40 years, and won 432 taxpayer referenda victories against tax thieves.”

“Eighty percent of local taxes go to salaries and benefits of government employees, and taxes now support much of the lavish, gold-plated pensions they receive. If Glenview SD 34 reigned in exorbitant government employee payouts, they wouldn’t need a property tax increase.”

“Taxpayers are always shocked when they are told just how much government school employees get after retirement, especially when they realize it’s their income and property taxes that are subsidizing the luxurious lifestyles of former government employees.”

“For example, William Attea retired from Glenview SD34 at age 57, and currently gets an astounding annual pension of $225,989. He has received, to date, $4,088,864. His estimated lifetime pension payout is $4,547,622.”

“Another example is Dorothy Weber, who retired from Glenview SD34 at age 57, and currently gets an annual pension of $217,958. Her estimated lifetime pension payout is $5,813,396.”

“Instead of throwing a property tax increase on already overburdened taxpayers, Glenview SD34 officials should instead reign in their spending. Glenview taxpayers should reject the $119,000,000 property tax increase on March 17.”

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“INFRASTRUCTURE” TAXES HELP POLITICIANS, NOT COMMUTERS

By on February 18, 2020   /   IL, Illinois, Latest  
bus
bus

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Raising taxes for “infrastructure” is a scam that helps politicians but not commuters, according to Jim Tobin, president of Taxpayer Education Foundation (TEF).

“Politicians want to raise taxes for infrastructure because new projects give taxpayers the impression they are getting shiny new things for their money,” said Tobin. “But, in fact, these projects actually harm commuters.”

“Several studies by transportation expert Randal O’Toole, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, show that with the exception of New York City subway ridership, the future for the rest of the government transit industry is dim. Yet billions of dollars are still being poured into declining government transit systems instead of improving roads.”

“O’Toole provides some startling statistics to illustrate these facts.”

  • Other than New York City subways, nationwide ridership fell 1.2 percent for 2019 as a whole.
  • When compared with 2014 ridership, 2019 ridership fell in 44 out of the 50 largest urban areas.
  • Transit buses, including commuter buses, trolley buses, and bus-rapid transit as well as conventional buses, carried fewer riders in 2019 than in any year since 1939.
  • Light rail is also doing poorly, losing more than 4 percent of its riders in 2019.
  • Government Transit is not healthy in almost all urban areas. Los Angeles and Washington ridership peaked in about 2008; Chicago in 2012; and the others in 2013 or 2014.  If government transit can’t thrive in Chicago, which has the nation’s second-largest downtown, then it is really becoming a one-urban-area industry (New York).
  • Whenever it opens a new light-rail line, Los Angeles loses five bus riders for every light-rail rider it gains, and even light-rail ridership declines in years that it doesn’t open new lines.

“O’Toole shows that building government rail transit usually does more harm than good to a transit system. Gasoline is cheap and autos provide people access to far more jobs and other economic opportunities than transit,” said Tobin.

“Interstate Highways, called the world’s best transportation system, were paid for entirely out of federal and state highway user fees. There is little justification for raising more taxes and trying to get people out of their cars and onto transit, which in turn means there is little justification for the tens of billions of dollars of annual subsidies American taxpayers give to the government transit industry.”

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